Manhattans and Martinis are my #1 favorite cocktails. Ironically, for all their traditional simplicity, they're the most adventuresome to order because in most jernts you never know what you're going to get. In a way, no two are alike, in spite of what you specify or don't specify when ordering. Hell, no two of my own are exactly alike, and you'd think I'd have it down to a science.
(DR John G. - does that make sense? I'm sure you know what I mean, though I could probably have expressed it better.)
Anyway, that was just rambling preamble leading into the point of my post, which is: I didn't mention this at the time, either to DR Elmore or to our waiter, but the Manhattan I had at the Brooklyn Diner the other night was Perfection in a Glass.
A song cue if ever there was one!
I’ve hopped bar to bar
Quickly spending a pile and
Dropped into some quaint honky-tonks
I’ve had a martini out in Staten Island
A crème de menthe in Southern Bronx
Went borough to borough
The expense wasn’t minor
But I gladly spent my meager means
For the Manhattan I had at the Brooklyn Diner
Was the envy of all here in Queens